From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hysteria \Hys*te"ri*a\, noun [NL.: cf. F. hyst['e]rie. See {Hysteric}.] (Med.) A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women, in which the emotional and reflex excitability is exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished, so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into paroxism or fits.
Note: The chief symptoms are convulsive, tossing movements of the limbs and head, uncontrollable crying and laughing, and a choking sensation as if a ball were lodged in the throat. The affection presents the most varied symptoms, often simulating those of the gravest diseases, but generally curable by mental treatment alone.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: state of violent mental agitation [syn: {craze}, {delirium}, {frenzy}, {fury}]
2: excessive or uncontrollable fear
3: neurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks and disturbances of sensory and motor functions [syn: {hysterical neurosis}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
84 Moby Thesaurus words for "hysteria": abandon, abstraction, abulia, accident neurosis, alienation, anxiety, anxiety equivalent, anxiety hysteria, anxiety neurosis, anxiety state, apathy, association neurosis, battle fatigue, blast neurosis, catatonic stupor, combat fatigue, compensation neurosis, compulsion, compulsion neurosis, conversion hysteria, conversion neurosis, craze, dejection, delirium, depression, detachment, ecstasy, elation, emotionalism, euphoria, expectation neurosis, fire and fury, fixation neurosis, folie du doute, frenzy, fright neurosis, furor, furore, fury, homosexual neurosis, hypochondria, hypochondriasis, hysterics, indifference, insensibility, intoxication, lethargy, madness, mania, melancholia, mental distress, neurosis, neuroticism, obsession, obsessional neurosis, occupational neurosis, orgasm, orgy, passion, pathological indecisiveness, pathoneurosis, phobia, preoccupation, psychalgia, psychasthenia, psychomotor disturbance, psychoneurosis, psychoneurotic disorder, psychopathia martialis, rage, rapture, ravishment, regression neurosis, shell shock, situational neurosis, stupor, tearing passion, tic, towering rage, transport, twitching, unresponsiveness, war neurosis, withdrawal
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Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
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